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If your a user of XIV, or your considering purchasing an XIV, then there is one tool that you will truly love. It's called XIVTop. The XIVTop application comes packaged with the XIV GUI and is one of the handiest add-ons I have ever seen. It lets you monitor your XIV in real time, seeing exactly how much IO or throughput is being achieved and at what response time (in milliseconds). You can immediately answer questions like:

Is poor application response time being caused by poor storage response time?

What application is currently generating so much traffic on the SAN?

What effect has performing file de-fragmentation had on performance?

Are the backups running and how much traffic are they generating?

What happens when I run multiple application batch jobs at the same time?

The ability to get this information in real time is what makes XIVTop so invaluable.

So in the tradition of always pushing my boundaries, I thought I would create a narrated video about XIVTop. What I discovered is just how terribly hard doing narrated videos are: You need to write a script... you need to stick to the script... you need to not fluff any words.... you need to speak slowly and clearly and not start talking in a strange accent. I had trouble with all of these, so I made take after take after take after take, until I was heartily sick of the process. I have now got a much greater respect for newsreaders and film actors. This narration stuff is hard!

So please check out my final take. It's still far from perfect, but all feedback is very welcome. The only other thing that is quite strange is Youtubes choice of videos to watch after mine. Its worth watching just to see the list. I think the termperformance confuses the algorithm.